Electric railway-signal.



PATENTE-D AUG. 22, 1905,

Him 797,678.

7 J PRIEDLANDER. ELECTRIC RAILWAY SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED 1335.27, 1904.

' suitable construction.

. armies IELlECTRlC HAlLWAY-SlGrNAIL Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 22, 1905.

Application filed December 27, 1904. Serial No. 238A7G.

To all whom it Wtay concern:

Be it known that I, JAKE FRIEDLANDER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Fargo, in the county of Cass and State of North Dakota, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Electric Railway-Signals, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to railway-signals of the electric type; and ithas for its object to provide means whereby those in authority on atrain may readily communicate with a traindespatcher or other person ata station with a View of receiving information and instructions, andthereby avoiding collisions and other accidents.

With the foregoing in mind the invention will be fully understood fromthe following description and claims, when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in whichFigure 1 is a side elevation of so much of a railway and a train thereonas is necessary to illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention.Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same, and Fig. 3 is a diagrammaticview illustrating the electric circuit and hereinafter referred to indetail.

Referring by letter to the said drawings, A A are the rails of arailway, which in general may be of the conventional or any other B Bare the cars of a train on the railway, and C is a telegraphpoledisposed at one side of the railway in the ordinary manner. The saidpole C is preferably hollow, and intermediate of the lower portion ofthe same and the adjacent rails A is a conduit D, preferably ofnon-conducting material.

E is a wire extending through the pole C and the conduit D and designedto lead to the station presently referred to.

F is a contact-piece connected to the end of the wire E at a pointimmediately below one of the rails A and designed to be engaged by acomplementary contact-piece Gr when the latter is depressed by theweight of a train on the meeting ends of the said rail A and theadjacent rail; and H II are the axles of the cars B, which are eachequipped with the usual wheels and are divided byinsulating materialinto two sections, as best shown in Fig. 2. The contact-piece (ii isconnected to one of the ties at one side of the railway, and when saidcontact-piece is pressed into engagement with the contact-piece F andthe sections of the axles adjacent to said side of the railway areelectrically connected to sections at the opposite side of the railwayby means presently described it will be observed that the electriccurrent will pass through the wire E, the contact-piece F, thecontact-piece Gr, the adjacent rail A, one section of one axle H, theelectrical connection before mentioned, the opposite section of the sameaxle or another axle, a rail at the opposite side of the railway, and awire I back to the source of electric energy. This source of electric,energy is preferably a battery K, Fig. 3, to one pole of which the wireE leads.

The wire I, as before stated, leads to a station where it is connectedto any suitable signaling apparatus, (indicated by L.) This signalingapparatus may be a telephone, as illustrated, a telegraph-sounder, orany other device compatible with the purposes of my invention, and it isconnected in turn to the opposite pole of the source of electricei'iergy K with reference to the wire I.

The means before described for effecting electrical connection betweenthe opposite sections of one or more axles of the cars B is best shownin Figs. 1 and 3 and comprises a wire M, connected electrically at oneend with one section of an axle H and electrically connected at itsopposite end to the opposite section of the same or another axle and oneor more telephones P or othersignaling devices connected to the saidwire M and arranged in one or more cars of the train. \Vhile I prefer toemploy the contact-piece G, which is resilient, and therefore adapted tonormally rest out of engagement with the contact-piece F, I do notdesire to be understood as conlining myself to such construction,inasmuch as when desired the rail or rails above the contact-piece F maybe pressed by the weight of a car directly into engage ment with thecontact-piece F to complete the circuit.

In the practical use of my novel apparatus the contact-piece F islocated at a certain predetermined point, and the engineer of the trainwho is cognizant of the location of the said contact-piece, by reason ofthe fact that the bells commence to ring, stops the train over the samewhenever it is desired to have communication with a train despatcher orother person in authority at the station. When the train is so stopped,the bells complementary to the telephones in the train and station willring, and the engineer and the train-despatcher will each be appraisedthat communication is established with the other. With this done thetelephones are used in the ordinary WBll'kIlOWIl manner, and theengineer is given any information or instructions which the despatchermay have to deliver, with the result that collisions and other accidentsare effectually avoided. The device may also be made use of at crossingsas a signal.

From the foregoing it will be gathered that my novel apparatus ispossessed of material advantages, and yet is simple and inexpensive inconstruction and adds but little to the cost of equipping a railway.

I have entered into a detailed description of the construction andrelative arrangement of the parts embraced in the present and preferredembodiment of my invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exactunderstanding of the said embodiment. I do not desire, however, to beunderstood as confining myself to such specific construction andrelative arrangement of parts, as such changes or modifications may bemade in practice as fairly fall within the scope of my invention asclaimed.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s-

1. In an electric, railway-signal, the combination of the rails of arailway; one of said rails being movable vertically, a contact-pieceresting normally out of engagement with said rail, a source of electricenergy, an electrical connection between the said contact-piece and onepole of the source of electric energy, a signaling device connectedelectrically with the opposite pole of the source of electric energy, anelectrical connection between one of the rails at the opposite side ofthe railway, with reference to the contact-piece, and the said signalingdevice, a car movable on the railway and having its axles divided byinsulation into two sections, respectively, an electric conductorconnected at one end to one section of one axle and connected at itsopposite end to another section of the same or another axle, and asignaling device arranged in and forming part of the said conductor.

2. In an electric, railway-signal, the combi nation of the rails of arailway, a source of electric energy, a signaling device arrangedbetween and electrically connected with one pole of the source ofelectric energy and the rails at one side of the railway, a car movableon the railway, a signaling device carried by the car, an electricalconnection between said signaling device and one of the wheels of thecar and through the latter to the last-mentioned rails, a contact-piece,an electrical connection between the last-mentioned signaling device andthe contact-piece; part of said connection being stationary and partcarried by the car, and an electrical connection intermediate thecontact device and the opposite pole of the source of electric energy.

3. In an electric railway-signal, the combination of the rails of arailway; one of said rails being movable vertically, a source ofelectric energy, a stationary signaling device arranged between andelectrically connected with one pole of the source of electric energyand a rail other than the vertically-movable rail, insulationelectrically isolating the said rails, a car movable on the railway andhaving a wheel for depressing the vertically-movable rail, and a wheelarranged to engage the second-mentioned rail, a signaling device carriedby the car and electrically connected with the said wheels, acontact-piece arranged to make electrical connection with theverticallymovable rail when the latter is depressed, and an electricalconnection between the opposite pole of the source of electric energyand the contact-piece.

4. In an electric, railway-signal, the combination of the rails of arailway; one of said rails being movable vertically, a source ofelectric energy, a stationary signaling device arranged between andelectrically connected with one pole of the source of electric energyand a rail other than the vertically-movable rail, insulationelectrically isolating the said rails, a car movable on the railway andhaving wheel for depressing the vertically-movable rail, and a wheelarranged to engage the second-mentioned rail, a signaling device carriedby the car and electrically connected or arranged in circuit with thesaid wheels, a contact-piece arranged to make electrical connection withthe vertically-movable rail when the latter is depressed, a hollow poledisposed at one side of the railway, a conduit extending under groundfrom said pole to a point adjacent to the contact-piece, and a wireextending through said pole and conduit and electrically connecting thecontact-piece and the opposite pole of the source of electric energy.

5. In an electric, railway-signal, the combination of the rails of arailway, a stationary signaling device connected electrically with therails at one side of the railway, a car movable on the railway, asignaling device carried by the car, an electrical connection betweensaid signaling device on the car and one of the wheels thereof andthrough the wheel to the last-mentioned rails, a contactpiece, anelectrical connection between the signaling device on the car and thecontactpiece; part of said connection being" stationary and part carriedby the car, and an electrical In testimony whereof I have hereunto setmy hand in presence of two subscribing Witconnection intermediate thecontact-piece nesses. and the stationary signaling device; the circuitcarried by the carer that in which the stationary signaling device isarranged being also provided with a source of electric energy.

JAKE FRIEDLANDER. Witnesses:

B. I. KEATING, GEO. H. HoLLIs'rER.

